


Out to Get Me

by floatingpetals



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Platonic Relationships, Reader-Insert, bucky about loses it, innocent game turned wrong, unintentionally drving bucky insane
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-06 16:13:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16836085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/floatingpetals/pseuds/floatingpetals
Summary: It was only meant to be in good fun. She’d didn’t think they’d cause this.





	Out to Get Me

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to know what I’m talking about just google duck pom poms and it should be one the first image that pops up(the yellow pom poms not the real duck with the fluff on top). I can’t link or this wouldn’t show up in tags. You used to be able to buy them in bulk on Amazon, but I can’t find them anymore. sidenote: I may or may not have done this to my roommate at one point too and that’s where I got the idea.

_It’s official,_ he thought, _I’m going insane._

Bucky stared at the offending object, the parasite he couldn’t seem to get rid of no matter how hard he tried. He swore he already threw the last one in the trash yesterday. However, there was the one in his shoes from the day before. Then there were the three he found the day before in his closet, on his gun rack in the arsenal room and then in the bottom of his gym bag. Yet here another sat. 

Bright yellow and fluffy the object sat innocently and inconspicuously on his dresser, made up of a little pom pom with a makeshift orange beak and feet. A tiny little duck. A pair of black eyes made up of googly eyes stared back; taunting him. He thought he’d never be rid of them.

Bucky took in a deep breath, closing his eyes to try to keep calm. He hadn’t the faintest idea where these devil ducks had come from, but he had been plagued by their appearance for the past month. He was close to losing his mind.

Scooping up the duck, he clenched it in his metal fist and crossed over to the bin where he muttered an oath while chucking it in with the others. They kept multiplying. It was never-ending. What was going on?

Attempting to keep his cool, Bucky went to his dresser for his socks, holding his breath. It was like a breath of fresh air when there wasn’t another staring back up at him in the dresser, no bright yellow in the sea of black. His shoulders sagged in relief before grabbing a pair off the top. Thinking he was in the clear, Bucky sat on his bed and unrolled the bundle. He froze when the familiar bright yellow fell out from between the two, landing on its back on the floor to gaze up at him with its dead, unfocused eyes.

“Son of a bitch!”

* * *

Sitting in the kitchen, Y/N and Sam were finishing their breakfast when Bucky finally trudged into the room. Y/N paused at the sigh of the dark circles under his eyes, a frown tugging at the corners of her lips.

“Bucky? You okay?” She asked with concern. He looked exhausted, and his step faltered after he gave a quick glance around the room.

Bucky eyes landed on Y/N, hearing her but not listening. He blinked rapidly and nodded with a sigh before walking over to the cupboard where the mugs were. He paused, almost expecting another one of those stupid ducks to be sitting in his line of sight on the shelf, just like last week. Thankfully, there wasn’t any insight. A small relieved grin spread on his faced as he reached for his special mug. It was one Y/N had gifted him for his birthday, a black jumbo mug with the quote ‘Oh, what fresh hell is this?’ in bold white. She found it when she was back home visiting her family in a tacky souvenir shop and instantly thought of him. According to her, he said that saying, or at least a semblance of the phrase, almost daily. He chuckled but couldn’t deny it. He did find himself saying that quite frequently in his line of work.

He hadn’t even glanced at the mug beside making sure it was there before grabbing it from the cupboard and then moved to where the fresh pot was brewing. He set the cup aside to grab the warm pot and was seconds away from mindlessly pouring the coffee into the mug but stopped short at the bright yellow on the bottom of the black cup. Letting out a huff of air, he ground his teeth before plucking the small puff out of the mug. He spun around and glared at Sam and Y/N and held up the offending object.

“Alright! Which one of you is doing this?!” He snapped. Y/N and Sam both froze, their eyes wide in surprise. Their attention darted to the little yellow puffball in his hand and back to Bucky’s crazed eyes. Sam squinted and leaned forward.

“Is that… a duck?” Sam hadn’t the slightest idea what had Bucky in all in a huff, although he did remember finding a few that looked similar himself a few weeks back. He thought nothing of it at the time, just deciding to throw it away and completely forgot about it. Sam’s question was innocent enough. However, it seemed that wasn’t the right question to counteract with. Bucky had been bottling everything up for weeks now, and this was finally the straw that broke the camel’s back.

“Yes! It’s a fucking duck! I’ve been finding these fucking ducks everywhere and I want it to end!” Bucky exploded. Y/N jumped, her eyes going wide from the fury he screamed at them across the bar. He held nothing back and unleashed his frustration on the two in the kitchen. “Everywhere I turn, there’s another one of these fucking ducks sitting, staring at me. Mocking me! I find them in my fucking shower! I found one in my chip bag last week! And I’m sick of it! Who the fuck’s doing this?!”

A stunned silence rang through the room, both Sam and Y/N flabbergasted. They hadn’t ever seen him this angry before, not even all the times Tony purposely screwed with him by messing with his arms functions. They were at a loss for words.

To Bucky, their silence was too much for him. He had been keeping this in for weeks, and now it was out. He was tired of it. He knew it had to be someone in the tower, he just couldn’t figure out who it was. FRIDAY was no help, and apparently, flat out asking one of the two people who he thought would have done it was an empty road.

He let out a vicious snarl and spun around to the trash can where he once again hurled the tiny innocent pompom into the bin. Without another look at his two friends and the abandoned coffee mug, Bucky stormed from the kitchen. It wasn’t until they heard the elevator door shut behind him that Sam finally turned to Y/N. It didn’t take him long to put the two and two together, that and her face screamed she was guilty.

“It was you, wasn’t it?”

Y/N bit her lip, scrunching her face with further regret and nodded.

“You bought little puffy ducks, and hid them in Barnes’ room?”

Y/N groaned and buried her face in her hands. Sam laughed in disbelief, shaking his head.

“I think you broke him. You actually found a way to destroy whatever sanity he had left. You broke his brain.” He giggled before turning back to his plate of eggs. He couldn’t wipe the wide grin off his face, stupidly staring off into space as he imagined all the little places she’d have to hide it over the past week. A thought crossed his mind causing him to pause. “Wait.”

“What?” Y/N groaned rolling her head back.

“Why though? I mean, what did he do that caused you to chip away at his sanity in such a brilliant way?” Sam asked, genuinely curious. Y/N sighed and sat forward to rest her head against the counter.

“I-I don’t know.” Y/N sighed. “I thought it be funny. You know? Buy a whole bunch of them, hide them around his room. I just wanted to tease him. Not break him.”

Sam stifled a giggle, shifting in his seat as he thought about all the little places she could have hidden them. He didn’t know she had it in her to be so deviant, and he was seeing Y/N in a different light now.

There had been a prank war going on in the compound. It was one of the few things that helped center the group, kept them on their toes. Y/N had stayed out of it, for the most part, he didn’t even know she decided to take part in the game. This was a whole new development.

Y/N groaned again and pushed off the counter to scoot her seat back.

“I’m gonna go check on him.” She muttered. Sam grinned, giggling again at the numerous hiding locations he thought of if he ever decided to steal her idea. Y/N rolled her eyes and left him doing his own thing. She only hoped he didn’t get any ideas. She honestly didn’t think Bucky could withstand another round of this if he snapped so easily.

When she stopped at his door, Y/N paused to listen for a second before hesitantly raising her fist. The first time she knocked, she received no answer. However, FRIDAY said he was there.

“Bucky?” She called and knocked again. There was silence for a beat and then she heard a sigh.

“Come in.”

Cautiously, she opened the door and hesitantly poked her head in his room. The curtains were shut, and the only light was from the open laptop on his bed. Bucky didn’t even glance her way when she stepped in to shut the door behind her. The light cast dark shadows on his face, the deep lines of his frown accented by the harsh light. She gulped and wrung her hands in front of her, the air tense in the dark room.

“Bucky?” She tried again, her feet root in place. Bucky grunted but continued his scrolling through the internet page. “I- I uh… I wanted to talk to you.”

Silence rang through the room, not even a whisper of acknowledgment from him. It caused her heart to drop and her stomach plummeted to her feet. He really was worked up about this. She’d never seen him this angry before, not even when Sam put the neon blue hair dye in his conditioner.

“Okay.” She said with a shuddering breath. “I guess I’ll just come out and say it anyways. I’m the one who hid all those ducks around your room.”

That caught Bucky’s attention. Slowly he turned to face her, a brow raised. His mouth fell open in surprise, but no words came. A part of him couldn’t believe it, this was Y/N. She’d never do this. But she’s also never had a reason to lie. Taking the advantage of his stunned silence, Y/N continued.

“It was just supposed to be in all good fun. I read a post somewhere about a guy who hid tiny ducks around his roommate’s room, and I thought it was funny. Kind of like when you kept moving Steve’s furniture an inch each day for a month straight. I didn’t mean to, as Sam so eloquently put it, caused your brain to break.’” She rushed, worried he would get upset if she didn’t explain it fast enough. When all he did was blink in response, she assumed the worst and that he really was angry with her. Y/N’s shoulders dropped, and she let out a defeated sigh. “I know it was dumb. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to get so bad.”

Gently shutting the laptop, Bucky sat up and turned on his bedside lamp. Y/N watched silently, chewing on her lip debating on whether she should leave or wait and see if he had anything to say. The frustration seemed to have melted off his face, a soft smile gradually replacing the frown. He patted the empty spot beside him, welcoming her to come to sit instead of hovering by the door. Y/N hesitate, but she took one look at his big blue puppy dog eyes and gave in too take up the empty spot beside him.

“So, you mean to tell me, you’re the one behind all those damn ducks?” He questioned. Y/N lowered her eyes in shame and nodded. Bucky couldn’t stop the giggle.

“Well damn. I didn’t actually think you had it in you doll.”

Y/N’s head snapped up, and her eyes widen in surprise.

“Wait. What?” She squeaked. She was ready for him to lay into her, to tell her that it wasn’t okay that she invaded his space and planted things to annoy him. Instead, he seemed amused, even proud of her in a way. This certainly wasn’t the same man that stood in the kitchen twenty minutes ago foaming at the mouth and damn near losing his mind.

Bucky chuckled low, realizing that she might be thrown a little by his sudden change in behavior. He scooted closer, still grinning widely.

“I will admit, I was losing it a little.” He admitted, scratching his head. “I swore it was Sam, it had his fingerprints all over. Not once did I ever think it be you. Imagine my surprise.”

Y/N giggled and nodded, her face heating up from embarrassment. Bucky grinned and nudged her with his shoulder with a snicker.

“I gotta ask though. How did you find the time to do all this?” He turned to face her, now curious to know her secret. “I never noticed any change and yet you managed to put them in my clothes, my bathroom, everything.”

Y/N laughed. “Yeah, that took a little planning, but it was easy considering it’s my job to watch people and learn their behaviors. I’ve had a lot of time learning everyone’s schedule since living here.” She shrugged and began to pick at the sheets on the bed. “I just took advantage of whenever you’d leave to go do your thing or go on a mission. It really wasn’t that hard. The time it took wasn’t long either. I never hid more than a small handful so hiding them was quick enough. I kind of wish I had half a mind to tell FRIDAY to record each time you found one.”

Bucky shook his head again, the grin stretching on his face from ear to ear. Y/N wasn’t one to take part in the teams ‘building exercises’ as Tony called it. She was quiet and kept mostly to herself. It never dawned on him that she was intentionally waiting for the opportune moment to strike. _And boy_ , he thought, _did she strike._

For weeks he felt his sanity chip away, convinced these damn ducks were out to get him. They were so simple, so tiny that he was surprised it worked. However, they were always there, staring and watching. She did well.

“Remind me to never cross you in the future.” Bucky joked. Y/N smirked and sat back on her hands.

“Oh, just wait until you see what I have in store for Tony.” Bucky balked at the wicked glint in her eyes, shuddering at the soft purr. This was certainly a side of he hadn’t seen yet. “He’s going to pay for switching the iced coffee in the fridge for prune juice.”

Bucky couldn’t stop the laughter that bubbled up his chest and Y/N’s own joined his. Yes, this was absolutely a side of Y/N he was excited to see. Running a hand through his hair, Bucky gave Y/N one of his crooked grins and let out a sigh.

“Alright. But you gotta include me.”

Y/N frowned although wasn’t entirely opposed to that idea. “Okay, but why?”

“Because if you’re this diabolical without being intentionally diabolical, then I do not want to be on the wrong side when you try to be.”

“Fair enough.” Y/N giggled, flushing at the strange but sweet praise. Bucky sat straighter, now more than excited to see what she had in store.

“Hell yeah. Let’s go fuck some shit up.”


End file.
